fieldstone Archives – J. G. Coleman Photography

Yankee Farmlands № 51 (Dairy farm, Torrington, Connecticut) — “Yankee Farmlands № 51”
Torrington, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Fences weave through a rock-strewn pasture in the northwest of Connecticut, converging at the crest of the nearby hill crowned with barns and silos. Clouds marble the blue sky overhead, fanning out over the dairy farm and the distant, wooded hills.

“Stones… Connecticut’s state flower!” As a child, I always had a laugh whenever my father related that classic New England joke. Of course, as I grew older and began trying to dig or drive rebar on my own property, the state’s characteristic rocky soil ceased to be a laughing matter. That was especially the case for many Connecticut farmers in earlier times: they toiled endlessly with the burdensome task of hauling stone out of their fields.

For that very reason, agricultural pursuits in particularly rugged areas of the state always tended towards livestock. Since the pastureland used for raising dairy cattle or sheep didn’t have to be plowed, it didn’t demand nearly as much meticulous stone removal.

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Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 51” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

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Be sure to check out all of the work in my on-going Yankee Farmlands project, a journey through Connecticut’s countryside in celebration of Southern New England’s agricultural heritage.

Yankee Farmlands № 31 (Fieldstone wall in Bolton, Connecticut, USA) — “Yankee Farmlands № 31”
Bolton, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

“Yankee Farmlands № 31” is the latest installment in an on-going project of mine in which I celebrate the agricultural heritage of New England through the scenic farmlands of Connecticut. This time around, we find ourselves in the small town of Bolton, peering at a barn and forest-bound meadow over the lichen-encrusted rocks of an iconic fieldstone wall.

Most of New England’s fieldstone walls were built 150 to 200 years ago during an era in which an ever-growing population was feverishly clearing new farmland. Exhausting labor went into constructing these walls as untold tons of stone were plucked from the upper layers of soil, hauled off to the outskirts of the pasture or field and loosely stacked by hand.

These relict stone walls are celebrated for their rustic aesthetic these days, but we might be surprised to discover that they were considered rather mundane at the time of their construction. For the Yankee farmers that built them, fieldstone walls merely represented a practical way to dispose of agricultural refuse. It wasn’t until the 20th-century, when much of New England’s age-old agrarian ways had faded, that rustic stone walls became romantic relics of a simpler, unhurried era in the region’s history.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 31” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of the landscape photography from my on-going Yankee Farmlands project.